Parents accuse Magnolia ISD of discrimination

Published 6:00 pm, Thursday, February 5, 2004

They want to know why their children cannot use district facilities or participate in certain activities, even though they pay thousands of dollars each year in school district taxes.

About 20 families have organized FACT (For All Children Today), which, according to its Web site (magnoliafact.org), was formed in an effort to lobby the Magnolia district to serve the best interests of all the children who live in the district.

A meeting to apprise FACT members of the status of its efforts is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 19 at D'Upper Room on FM 1488.

While FACT members and other homeschool families are angry that their children cannot take advantage of MISD programs, the debate has centered around one family's battle with the district over participation in livestock shows.

Lauren and Steve Twining have four children, and their two sons are 4-H members.

The two boys participate in several livestock shows each year, but they were not allowed to participate in a joint 4H-Future Farmers of America show sponsored by Magnolia ISD in September.

"They're not allowed to be in FFA," Twining said. "In other parts of the country and Texas, they allow homeschoolers to participate.

"FFA is not limited to public school students."

The Twinings and several other homeschool families began their efforts to learn whether their children could participate in the FFA show months ago when they went to an FFA Booster Club meeting in April.

"We were denied," Twining said. "And within 24 hours, (Magnolia ISD Superintendent Michael) Holland came forward and said no matter what the Booster Club decided, he would deny us."

That denial kicked off a series of letters from the Twinings to the Magnolia ISD, the Texas Home School Coalition Association and the Texas FFA Association to try to give the Twining boys a chance to show their livestock at the FFA show.

The Twinings even went through standard grievance-filing procedures with the Magnolia district to try to settle the matter.

Holland, however, is firm in his stance.

"Our district activities, whether curricular or extracurricular, should be reserved for students enrolled in Magnolia schools," he said. "Persons not enrolled in the district have no claim upon the resources of the school district, nor are they subject to its policies or control."

Policies on homeschool student participation in public school activities vary from district to district. In the Conroe Independent School District, students who are not enrolled in CISD are not allowed to participate in district co-curricular or extracurricular activities, according to spokeswoman Kay Galindo.

A July 23 letter to Twining from Tom Maynard, executive director for the Texas FFA Association, stated, "Because local agricultural education programs are administered by school districts, these students must also meet local policy criteria for participation in school activities."

A chart on FACT's Web site states, "There is no FFA rule that prohibits private/homeschooled students living within a district from participating in FFA shows."

But Gerald Young, a Texas FFA official, told The Courier Thursday that the FFA is "an arm" of the public school agriculture science program.

"A student has to be enrolled in agriculture class to participate in FFA," Young said.

"We're not pickin' on them, that's just the way it is."

To illustrate what Lauren Twining said is a "double standard," she said the son of an agriculture teacher in Magnolia ISD, a private school student until this year, was allowed to participate in FFA shows.

The teacher could not be reached for comment and Holland did not wish to comment.

However, membership requirements for the Junior FFA, which can be found on the Texas FFA Association's Web site (www.texasffa.org), states that Junior FFA membership is designed for students who are ineligible for enrollment in the agricultural science program and have "justifiable reasons for not joining the 4-H organization."

Those reasons include having an older sibling who is an FFA member or a parent or guardian who is an FFA adviser.

For Lauren Twining, the district's refusal to let her sons participate in the FFA show are symptomatic of a bigger picture of discrimination against homeschool students.

"The show is just one of many problems," she said. "We cannot do anything; we cannot use the library; we cannot send our children to summer school. They do have a double standard.

"We are told to go away and don't come back."

What Twining wants is a specific Magnolia ISD policy that spells out who is eligible to participate in the FFA livestock show.

"We're not asking to use up teacher or class time," she said. "This is a function that the community is funding through the auction.

"I have children who want to learn about agriculture and an FFA that wants to teach agriculture. But there's a school district in the middle.